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chuckwalla

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I'm excited to be getting into detecting - I picked up a Gold Bug II and I'm planning a desert camping trip soon. I'm targeting the Salton Sink and Bradshaw trail areas - I'm sure a lot of people here are familiar with these spots. I'm not specifically looking for Pegleg's gold, but I wouldn't mind finding it either.

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Welcome, chuckwalla!  I look forward to your reports on your upcoming adventures.

 

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Welcome Chuck,

    Happy to see you here! Sound's like an interesting trip you have planned! I know a little about the history of the Salton Sea, and the abandoned town there! Always thought that would be an interesting area to detect, if the extreme amount of ground salt's didn't do a number on detecting depth!

   Good Luck! And let us know how it goes!👍👍

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40 minutes ago, Joe D. said:

Welcome Chuck,

    Happy to see you here! Sound's like an interesting trip you have planned! I know a little about the history of the Salton Sea, and the abandoned town there! Always thought that would be an interesting area to detect, if the extreme amount of ground salt's didn't do a number on detecting depth!

   Good Luck! And let us know how it goes!👍👍

That's a good point about the salt content - I think I'm probably going to stick towards the mountains and arroyos above sea level for my first trip.

re: the abandoned town, do you mean Eagle Mountain? I was just watching some youtube videos about it. Looks like a great place to do some detecting, and I can see that there's actually a 4x4 trail that leads into the back of it, all through BLM land.

Edit* the back road unfortunately goes partially through Joshua Tree National Park - I assume I wouldn't even want to have a detector in my vehicle if it passes through NPS land.

 

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Welcome aboard and happy hunting.

Don't get discouraged on your first hunt like I did. I am just learning my detector and am now finding some good finds. This is a hobby that takes some people time and patience to learn their equipment.

Sounds like a good spot that you are going to, and the timing is good weather for you.

Hope you have fun and stay safe from the snakes and critters.

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Welcome Chuckwalla,

I actually got to detect many of the abandoned homes you pictured at Eagle Mountain about twenty years ago.  Hitched my way in on an Eagle Mtn. Mine tour arranged by the Yucaipa Historical Society.  I only got about two hours of hunt time in before we had to leave, but did manage a few silvers, wheats and cool do dads from under all those clothes lines that were behind those dwellings.  I haven't heard of anyone getting in there legally, since.  GaryC/Oregon Coast

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55 minutes ago, Valens Legacy said:

Welcome aboard and happy hunting.

Don't get discouraged on your first hunt like I did. I am just learning my detector and am now finding some good finds. This is a hobby that takes some people time and patience to learn their equipment.

Sounds like a good spot that you are going to, and the timing is good weather for you.

Hope you have fun and stay safe from the snakes and critters.

Thanks - I'll be wearing my snake chaps and carrying my PLB for safety. I enjoy camping and exploring in the desert, so I figured detecting would be a good way to enhance the entire experience (and justify more week-long trips) - I'm happy just to be out there.

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2 minutes ago, GaryC/Oregon Coast said:

Welcome Chuckwalla,

I actually got to detect many of the abandoned homes you pictured at Eagle Mountain about twenty years ago.  Hitched my way in on an Eagle Mtn. Mine tour arranged by the Yucaipa Historical Society.  I only got about two hours of hunt time in before we had to leave, but did manage a few silvers, wheats and cool do dads from under all those clothes lines that were behind those dwellings.  I haven't heard of anyone getting in there legally, since.  GaryC/Oregon Coast

That sounds like an amazing opportunity. The surrounding BLM land appears to have a lot of claims on it as well, but there appears to be some possible spots to explore to the south of the town.

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9 hours ago, chuckwalla said:

That sounds like an amazing opportunity. The surrounding BLM land appears to have a lot of claims on it as well, but there appears to be some possible spots to explore to the south of the town.

In the 70's and 80's we did a fair amount of detecting starting about 10 miles from there. East of the Coxcomb mountains was one of several Army training camps from the early 40's. We found coins, buttons, insignia, shell casings, a little jewelry and lots of bottle caps. Only been out there a couple of times in the last 10 years.

This video was not at Coxcomb but the finds were typical of what we found when we first went out there.

 

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2 hours ago, Compass said:

In the 70's and 80's we did a fair amount of detecting starting about 10 miles from there. East of the Coxcomb mountains was one of several Army training camps from the early 40's. We found coins, buttons, insignia, shell casings, a little jewelry and lots of bottle caps. Only been out there a couple of times in the last 10 years.

This video was not at Coxcomb but the finds were typical of what we found when we first went out there

 

The history on those camps is interesting, I didn't realize there were so many of them (I've seen the Patton monument at Chiriaco Summit, but never paid to go into the museum - I guess I'll pay the $10 next time).

this blog has some amazing pictures of the training centers in the 1940s for anyone interested

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